- Jan 20, 2006
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Theres a vicious rumour and i mean that in the most literal sense that portsmouth could go into administration by tonight/tomorrow...2+2 does equal 7.5?....in other words harry+storie(levy)=crouch...
Reports of the immediacy of their demise may be exaggerated, but perhaps not by too much. Brian Oliver, a Pompey fan, wrote this in the Guardian in January, shortly after JD's departure:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blo...fratton-park-harry-redknapp-tottenham-hotspur
The key paragraph for those who can't be bothered to read the lot:
A press release arrived at the Guardian this morning from Equifax, a financial company. They mark companies out of 100 on their credit rating, and the lower the score, the more likely a business is predicted to default on payments. At the top of the scale are Arsenal and Manchester United, both in the 90s. Spurs are on 65. At the bottom, nine clubs are marked 10 or less, including Chelsea. Hull City have one point out of 100. Pompey? Zero, with an asterisk. "*No accounts filed for Portsmouth Football Club at Companies House, so automatically given an insolvency rating."
I suggested at the time that we may have done them a favour by writing off what they owed us not only for Defoe, but for Mendes, because we had serious concerns that we might never see it. Some raised eyebrows at this, but there's no doubt that they're in a godawful mess. A recent Guardian article (http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/jul/11/portsmouth-takeover-sulaiman-al-fahim) suggests that the club is desperate for money to service its debt to a South African bank, and it appears it's a race against time—will the creditors demand their pound of flesh before al-Fahim can ride to the rescue? That looks as if it may be at least a couple of weeks away, assuming he's declared a 'fit and proper person'.
I'm not sure quite how relevant this is to the Crouch situation, except that he's their most saleable remaining asset and they probably have little choice but to cash in on him, but Harry's going to be very clued up on the situation.